Achluophobia

The Achluophobie (also: Nyktophobie of ancient Greek : νύξ, νυκτός (nyx, nyktós) f - the night. Skotophobie (of σκότος, σκότου m (Skotos) - Dark) or. Lygophobie (λύγη f (lýgē) -. Twilight )) is a phobic disorder with an exaggerated fear of the dark . The name is derived from ancient Greek: ἀχλύς, ἀχλύος f. (achlýs, Gen. achlýos) - fog , which also means twilight . As a rule, the fear is not of the dark itself, but of the possible or imagined dangers associated with it. Those affected avoid going out at night, they avoid twilight and dark rooms, draw the curtains in the evening so as not to accidentally look into the darkness and try to have light available at all times.

Often the fear of the dark is only associated with small children, but it also affects adults and seniors.

Fear of the dark in children

Many parents are familiar with the request from children to leave the lights on at night . In the majority of cases this has nothing to do with a disorder and is reflected.

Childhood anxieties such as these are considered part of normal development in most children. However, according to the diagnostic criteria, these childhood fears combined have the extent of a phobic disorder or anxiety disorder in about 23% of children. For some children, these fears lead to problems that affect their daily routine.

The Robert Koch Institute describes adolescence as the typical onset of anxiety disorders, which suggests the consideration of counteracting this as early as possible.

Research into the conception of primary prevention in younger children showed the potential effectiveness of addressing stories about dealing with the dark in reducing fear of the dark. In kindergarten, one group heard stories that dealt with the darkness in a positive way, the control group heard stories that were neutral in content, i.e. irrelevant to fear of the dark. The results showed that the statements from the stories were taken up and a significant decrease in self-reported fear of the dark compared to the control group.

Scotophobin: The Molecular Substrate of Achluophobia

An alternative theory was proposed in the 1960s: In it, fear of the dark was caused by the molecule scotophobin . This substance appeared to be responsible for making various mammals remember their fear of the dark. However, this theory turned out to be untenable.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ List of phobias
2. ↑ Ronald M. Doctor, Ada P. Kahn, Christine A. Adamec: Encyclopedia of Phobias, Fears, and Anxieties . 3. Edition. Facts on File, New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-8160-6453-3 .
3. ↑ Peter Muris, Harald Merckelbach, Birgit Mayer, Elske Prins: How serious are common childhood fears? In: Behavior Research and Therapy . tape 38 , no. 3 , 2000, pp. 217-228 , doi : 10.1016 / S0005-7967 (98) 00204-6 (English).
4. ↑ Hans-Ulrich Wittchen, F. Jacobi: anxiety disorders (=  Federal Health Monitoring . No. 21 ). Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89606-152-6 .
5. ↑ Avigdor Klingman: Biblioguidance With Kindergartners: Evaluation of a Primary Prevention Program to Reduce Fear of the Dark . In: Journal of Clinical Child Psychology . tape 17 , no. 3 , 1988, pp. 237-241 , doi : 10.1207 / s15374424jccp1703_7 (English).
6. ↑ Louis Neal Irwin: Scotophobin: Darkness at the Dawn of the Search for Memory Molecules . 2006, ISBN 0-7618-3580-6

This article is about a health issue. It is not used for self-diagnosis and does not replace a diagnosis by a doctor. Please note the information on health issues !